Etageres in progress

[Gene Davis]

A copy of a design by Ethan Allen.  I have no imagination.  This is a run of five of them, all for personal use.

Dominos everywhere.  About 50 in each.  Even sequenced, the glue-ups were tough.  Had to use Titebond Extend in the last sequence, with so many pockets and tenons to glue.

The CDX ply you see screwed to the end of the piece is one of two such, screwed on so the assemblies can be moved around on the shop floor without getting marred.  Tops will go on last, after I get my router bit for doing the elongated countersunk screw holes.

The top of the bottom box and the two intermediate shelves are veneer plywood, all parts edged with solid wood.  All glued on oversized, then cut close with hand planes to the surface, and seamed to flush with the RO 125.  Gotta be careful to not go through the veneer.  I am done with edging veneer plywood for a while.

Spent a full day hanging and trimming the ten inset doors.  Each piece gets a pair of them, each leaf approximately 10 w x 15 h.  Tedious.  Hang all doors oversize and close to a net zero fit in openings, then mark for trimming, and do in steps to creep up on perfection.  Am using no-mortise hinges so it's not the same as using euro hinges with 3-way adjustment.

The doors are joined with one 8x50 domino per butt, and no matter what I do, I get a little misregistration at some joints.  If it is more than a few thou, I plane first with razor-sharp hand tools, before I go to sand with the RO 125.  If I was a pro, I would just send everything through a 52-inch Timesaver.  Nothing like big time power and grit to get that perfect flatness.

 

[ToddTurnerT4.75]

Gorgeous. And the way you wrote the post is amazing. Writing in a way ALL woodworkers understand, as if were standing in your shop talking to us. PLEASE show us the finished project!

 

[Gene Davis]

So yesterday I worked with the RO 125 and some hand tools to sand the exteriors of the full-height standards, plus the few parts which flush to them.  Hand tools used to ease the sharp edges.  The doors are all sanded.

I had not gotten the lumber for the solid tops, so this morning I went to town (Austin Hardwoods of Denver) to buy some cherry boards.  Each top is about 24 long by 17 wide.  They sell so much stock down there you never know what the selection is going to be, but today, all was good.  The first 8' long bunk of 4/4 cherry I came upon was fresh, meaning not picked through, and there were plenty of wide straight boards with no sapwood either side.

Wow!

I picked out three boards, about 6 bf each, widths between 8-1/2 and 9-1/2 inches.  About $95, and I pay retail.  Did not get them cut so they would fit in the truck box so I left the gate down and laid in all three 8 footers.  My bed plus gate is only 6'-6" so I had exposed lumber going home.  Got caught halfway with rain then harder rain then sleet and by the time I got the boards out of the truck the back half of each board was soaked and cold.d

Right away, I toweled them off, hustled them into the shop, crosscut rough, planed, jointed, ripped so as to eliminate a couple pin knots and other imperfections, then jointed more as required and did the glue ups.  The stock inside, after having planed off 1/16 each side, was dry.

So while the glue sets up, it's time to clean the guns.

That bunk of 4/4 was gorgeous.  Much of their thicker stock is rough faced, but not all.  Today's 4/4 cherry in the 8 foot length was all a slightly fat 15/16, and smooth both sides.  All had been skip-surfaced, and there were just a few places where the skip did not clean up all the rough.  I wish I had needed more lumber.

I include a pic of what was on the floor next to the sales counter.  This was by far the most impressive set of slabs, but there were some gorgeous flitches of wormy maple, white oak, and cherry.  This is monkeypod, from South America, and these measured 40 wide by 118 long.

 

[copcarcollector]

Looks great thanks for the detailed info.

Just curious, do you not let your new lumber acclimate before doing the machining and glue ups?

 

[Gene Davis]

OK, all cutting done, all sanding done, parts all marked in hidden places so they go together again after finish.  Caps and doors and backs are finished separately from carcase stack.

Finishing has begun.  This being cherry and tending to blotch (I am dying them) they get a coat of blotch-minimizer (white glue mixed with water 1:7), then the dye, then a seal coat of GF Seal-A-Cell, followed by three of four wiped on coats of GF Arm-R-Seal satin.

 

[nclemmons]

Those look great. 

I've used the blotch control from Charles Neil. 

Have not heard of using diluted white glue with water.  Would love to see photos of the steps as you go through the finish process.

Thanks for sharing -

 

[KBJ]

Very nice work and write up!  Those slabs are gorgeous too.... though taking tools to a $4k piece of lumber would give me a nervous breakdown.